


Breaking

by rayenbow



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-12 00:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/804942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayenbow/pseuds/rayenbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's breaking, and he's holding her together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking

He’s not sure what’s wrong. He never really is, when she gets like this. She’ll keep it all bottled up, hidden beneath plastic smiles and fake laughs, until something slips and cracks inside of her. Then she’s losing it, rapidly coming unraveled in the worst ways possible. He knows she hates being like this in front of him, or in front of anyone, a haunting symphony of broken sounds. In the end, he rarely finds out what she’s so upset about. He doubts it’s a boy; her breakups are too frequent for that. It’s something deeper, he’s sure, something sturdier and more personal. He never asks. He’ll never ask. That’s just not the way they work.

Now she stands in the middle of his living room. Terrible sobs wrench from her throat, filling the loft with an aching sort of sorrow. Makeup smears around her eyes where she’s rubbed them with trembling fingers, and her hair is tangled and messy from how many times she’s tore her hands through it. The heels of her hands are pressed to her face, hard enough that he knows they will leave ugly bruises. Everything about her is raw; the pure emotion and the hoarse sound of her cries.

He’s quiet, watching her from only a few feet away, trying to gauge how much longer this will go on. By the strength and growing volume of her weeping, the answer is _much_. It hurts his heart to see her this way. She’s a warrior, fierce and unyielding. She spends her days breaking hearts and her nights breaking skulls. He’s watched her take out a demon with nothing but the heel of her boot. Sometimes he forgets that she’s still just a teenage girl, and some things are far too overwhelming for her to handle.

Her breath catches in her throat, a painful sounding hiccup. That’s it; he can’t watch anymore. He surges forward, closing the little space between them and winding his arms around her, pulling her close. Immediately her arms are hooking around his neck and her face is pressing against his shoulder. Her tears hit his bare skin, hot and wet, and she shakes against him so hard that he’s not sure she’d be able to stand on her own anymore.

He doesn’t say anything. He never does. He only holds her against him, holds her together, and waits for it to pass.


End file.
